REVIEW: Samurai Warriors 4


Title	Samurai Warriors 4
Developer	Omega Force
Publisher	Koei Tecmo America Corp.
Release Date	October 21, 2014
Genre	Tactical Action
Platform	PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
Age Rating	ESRB – Teen
Official Website

Where do I even begin with this game? Samurai Warriors 4 is a game that has nearly depleted all of my free time. I just can’t stop playing. I can honestly say that I have become addicted to this game. The game is hectic and chaotic, but also tactical and strategic at the same time, and that counts as a win in my book. This is my first Samurai Warriors game ever, and it didn’t disappoint. So, without any further ado, let’s dig into this game.

Let’s start out talking about the newest mode in the game, Chronicle Mode. In Chronicle Mode, you play as your own custom character. You pick a clan from their region, then, from there, what you do is simple — continue throughout the region doing quests, meeting officers, collecting items and just overall exploring the area. I found this mode to be much longer than the story mode, so, even after you’re done with the story, you’ll still have plenty more to go. The fun just never seems to end!

As for the Story Mode, it’s a lot different than previous games. In the game, instead of the usual “pick a character and follow their story” approach, you follow the story of a certain clan. This means that the game can have varying scenario sizes, depending on the length of the story, so you might not always have five episodes. You may have four, or even eight battles, and that’s it. As well as separating the scenarios based on region, they are also based on two much bigger categories — regional stories and unification stories. All in all, the combined Story Mode and Chronicle Mode took me about 60 or so hours to fully complete.

Now comes the part of the review that I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for, the specs. Let’s start with the gameplay. The gameplay is very simple — you move, attack, get combos, go into rage mode, and all around wreak havoc. As per usual with the Warrior game franchise, you are under attack by hordes upon hordes of enemies, and you must defeat them or else they might gain the advantage and take you down. One mechanic that was added to help you take them down is the Rage Mode. While in Rage Mode, you unleash a flurry of fast, high-damage attacks that can knock out a multitude of enemies at the same time. The controls are smooth and very responsive, which really works in this games favor. In the end, the gameplay is simple, but effective. It works wonders for this game and really pulls you into the experience.

The sounds and music are great in the game, as well. During the menu and map scenes, the music is calm and relaxing, melodic, and sounds very traditional. However, it is a completely different tale when you’re in the fights. The music transforms to fit the fast, action-oriented style of the game. Many newer elements are blended into the song, giving it a little taste of everything and it is very pleasing to the ears. I’m absolutely in love with traditional music, as well as some of the newer ones, so it was great to hear them both blended together in perfect harmony.

No game is without its faults, however, and, while this game may be great, it does have some things that I thought were problematic. For starters, I didn’t really like the face-to-face confrontation scenes. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about the ones in Chronicle Mode because those are really necessary. I’m referring to the ones in the regular Story Mode. These may have been a great addition, if only they were used for something. I found that, during those scenes, it’s usually just the characters talking back and forth, and nothing else. There are no choices to make, no sides to choose, no anything. I personally would’ve just preferred a cutscene, instead of having to press through boxes upon boxes of text. These also aren’t too terribly interesting to watch, as it’s usually just a character on a bland and blurry background. Also, tell me in the comments if I’m wrong, but I’ve found no way of going back to the title screen during a fight in Free Mode. It would be amazing if I could just play a little bit through a fight and possibly quit for a while, do something else, and go back later when I’m ready to play again. Instead, there isn’t any way that I have found to temp-save, so I’m usually stuck unless I either finish the level, or close out of my game.

Apart from those flaws, it seems like Koei Tecmo has once again added another great game to their legacy. With the fantastic music, smooth and fluent controls, simple but effective gameplay and game modes that just keep going, you are sure to get hours of enjoyment out of this game. It’s perfect for both old fans of the franchise, as well as people just entering into it (like me). I give this game four stars because, while it is nearly perfect, it does have a few flaws that draw back my appreciation of the game just a tad. What did you think of the game? Tell us down below, we love to hear from you guys!